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Tag: Free Speech

  • Pham Doan Trang in CIVICUS: Repression persists as Vietnam jails human rights defender Pham Doan Trang and other activists.

    Since October 2021, several activists, journalists and human rights defenders including Pham Doan Trang have been harassed, arrested and convicted by the authorities simply for exercising their freedom of expression.  CIVICUS examines how Vietnam’s civic space has been continuously repressive, even putting pressure on Facebook to remove “anti-state” posts and silence anti-government critics in Vietnam.

    Excerpt:

    Vietnam’s civic space rating remains ‘closed’ in ratings published by the CIVICUS Monitor in December 2021. Among concerns raised by civil society through the year were the use of restrictive laws to criminalise activists, the targeting of journalists, surveillance and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.

    In January 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its annual report which found that the Vietnamese government hid behind the COVID-19 pandemic to carry out a severe crackdown on peaceful activism. HRW said that people who publicly criticise the government or Communist Party leaders on social media routinely face harassment, intimidation, intrusive surveillance, restrictions on freedom of movement, physical assault and arrest. After being detained for exercising their rights, people face abusive interrogation, long detention periods without access to legal counsel or their families, and trial by politically controlled courts meting out increasingly lengthy prison sentences.

    Since October 2021, the authorities have convicted sentenced human rights defender and journalist Pham Doan Trang to nine years’ imprisonment as well as five journalists of the now-shuttered Báo Sạch (Clean Newspaper). A number of individuals have been arrested and convicted for exercising their freedom of expression online while Facebook was accused of removing “anti-state” posts. Others arrested or jailed include political and land rights activists.

    Expression

    Prominent human rights defender and journalist jailed

    🇻🇳#Vietnam: The decision to sentence #humanrightsdefender Pham Doan Trang to 9 years in jail sends a further chilling message for media freedom and freedom of expression in the country.

    ✊We stand with her and other convicted activists and will keep demanding their release. pic.twitter.com/lG0R3xgFlV December 21, 2021

    Human rights defender and independent journalist Pham Doan Trang was sentenced to nine years in prison by The People’s Court of Hanoi on 14th December 2021. She was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on 7th October 2020 and charged under Article 88 of the 1999 Criminal Code which criminalises “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.”

    The indictment in Pham Doan Trang’s case includes as evidence several of her published works on environmental and human rights issues, as well as two interviews she gave to Radio Free Asia and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

    In a statement released ahead of her trial, Pham Doan Trang wrote, “The longer the prison sentence, the more demonstrable the authoritarian, undemocratic and anti-democratic nature of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

    According to Amnesty International, Pham Doan Trang was held incommunicado from the time of her arrest until 19th October 2021, when she was finally allowed to meet with one of her lawyers after having been denied access to her family and legal representation for over a year.

    On 25th October 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued Opinion No. 40/2021 concerning Pham Doan Trang. The WGAD found her detention to be arbitrary and called for her immediate release.

    Pham Doan Trang is among the leading voices and best-known independent writers in Vietnamese civil society and recognised internationally for her human rights advocacy. She is the author of thousands of articles, blog entries, Facebook posts and numerous books about politics, social justice and human rights.

    In 2019, Reporters Without Borders awarded her a Press Freedom Prize in recognition of her impact. Her work at the Liberal Publishing House helped it receive the prestigious Prix Voltaire award in 2020 for its continued coverage in spite of risks and dangers of reprisals. On 20th January she was named this week as a recipient of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the first rights activist from Vietnam to be given the award.

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    Repression persists as Vietnam jails human rights defender Pham Doan Trang and other activists CIVICUS Tracking conditions for citizen action
    Repression persists as Vietnam jails human rights defender Pham Doan Trang and other activists – CIVICUS – Tracking conditions for citizen action.pdf
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  • Pham Doan Trang in Voice of America: Vietnamese Critics, Others Slam Journalist’s 9-Year Sentence

    Locals and the international community were outraged with the 9 year prison term received by well-known Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang.

    Title: Vietnamese Critics, Others Slam Journalist’s 9-Year Sentence
    Publish Date: January 6, 2022
    Publisher: Voice of America

    Excerpt:

    HANOI, VIETNAM —

    The Dec. 14 sentencing of Vietnamese journalist Pham Thi Doan Trang, commonly known as Pham Doan Trang, to nine years in prison for “spreading anti-state propaganda” has angered members of the public here as well as observers outside the country.

    Trang regularly published information alleging human rights violations and police brutality. She was arrested in October 2020. She has been one of the most vocal critics of Vietnam’s human rights record in recent years.

    The arrest came just hours after the 24th annual U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue in Hanoi.

    “The sentence is too heavy,” said Minh Pham, a media specialist in Ho Chi Minh City who argued that Trang did not deserve such a long sentence.

    “This sort of trial made me more cautious about speaking and expressing my views in the press and on social media in the future. I feel insecure. It is better to avoid talking about political issues, because regardless of the degree of difference in opinion, it will be labeled as an ‘anti-national’ act,” he told VOA.

    Similarly, Oanh Vu, who works in the food and beverage industry, said Vietnam still has a long way to go when it comes to freedom of expression.

    She told VOA, “Trang’s case has become a sad story as we are heading to the end of this year. But anyway, it is optimistic to see some people are still supporting her and other political prisoners as well. They called for donations to give them [the prisoners] Tet gifts, and provide assistance for their families in their absence. It is also a very practical way to support and help.”

    A freelance journalist, who asked not to be named, told VOA he thought Trang’s heavy sentence could be a message to others, since the government may not be able to arrest all the dissidents just because of what they write on social media.

    “I think they may use Trang to warn others … with the hope that other journalists or dissidents will see what happened to Trang and decide to step back,” he said.

    Zachary Abuza, a professor of Southeast Asia studies at the National War College in Washington, also sees a larger purpose in the handling of Trang’s case.

    FILE - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) awarded Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang a 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact, Sept. 12, 2019, in Berlin.
    FILE – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) awarded Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang a 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact, Sept. 12, 2019, in Berlin.

    “The government can’t go and arrest every dissenter or person who makes an anti-government post on Facebook,” he told VOA. “The government is really trying to be very strategic in going after the most influential individuals. They try to figure out who is influencing others and hope that that serves as a deterrent.”

    The Trang case spurred several foreign governments to express concern about the human rights situation in Vietnam, although the country has maintained a good relationship with the United States and the European Union. Currently, Vietnam is trying to persuade EU members to ratify an investment protection agreement, in addition to an EU free trade agreement that has been ratified.

    However, a Dec. 16 statement by the EU spokesperson called for Trang’s release.

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    Vietnamese Critics Others Slam Journalists 9 Year Sentence
    Vietnamese Critics, Others Slam Journalist’s 9-Year Sentence.pdf
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